In a fresh effort to break the logjam over the National Counter Terrorism Centre, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today offered to work with States to evolve a consensus on this crucial security measure.
Rejecting the Opposition charge that the Government was not dealing effectively with internal security, Singh asserted that there would be no compromise in dealing with terrorism.
“All political parties need to speak with one voice in dealing with terrorism. In order to bring about a broad national consensus, we will work with State Governments in respect to the proposal for setting of NCTC,” he said in Rajya Sabha while replying to the Motion of Thanks on the President’s Address.
The setting up of NCTC has been hanging fire for the last three years because of strong resistance by Opposition-ruled States, which contend it would encroach upon the powers of the States.
In the wake of the Hyderabad blasts, the Government is again initiating efforts to set up the NCTC.
Jaitley had yesterday taken a dig at the Government and asked it not to convert the NCTC into a slogan.
“I believe that there are no two points of views that we should not make any compromise in dealing with terrorism,” the Prime Minister said.
During his 30-minute reply, Singh replied to a host of issues raised by the Opposition including the country’s economy, development and foreign policy besides internal security.
Talking about foreign policy, Singh referred to Pakistan and made it clear that normalisation in relations cannot take place unless the terror infrastructure is dismantled there.